Improvement in machines for rounding and straightening iron bars and shafts



J SEAMAN Machines for Rdunding and straigqhtenjng lr un Bars and Shafts.

Patented Dem 22,1874.

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' THE GRAPHId CU. PHPTO'LITHSBS PARK FLACEJLY.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

JOSEPH S. SEAMAN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, JAMES B. YOUNG, AND ROBERT SLEETH, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR ROUNDING AND STRAIGHTENING IRON BARS AND SHAFTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 158,133, dated December 22, 1874; application filed November 14, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J OSEPH S. SEAMAN, of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement in Rounding and Straightening Iron; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, in which like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 shows an end elevation of a machine for rounding metallic rods, bars, or tubes, constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 shows a top or plan view of the same, having a portion of the upper framework removed. Fig. 3 is a sectional view, taken on the line a; as, Fig. 2 5 and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central section of one of the collared rolls.

My invention relates to a method of, and machinery for, roundingor straightening or rounding and straightening metallic rods, bars, shafts, or tubes, wherein such rods, bars, shafts, or tubes are fed forward and rotated by, between, and along the biting-faces of grooved or collared rolls, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In most machines of the class referred to the rod, tube, or shaft to be operated on has been passed through between the biting-faces of two or more rolls, which moved at a speed but little, if any, in excess of that which, by their motion, they imparted to such rod, tube, or shaft, and hence they performed their function by simply compressing the surface of such rod, tube, or shaft, and by thus working down and in the inequalities on its surface brought it to the degree of roundness desired.

My present improvement differs from this in that, instead of rounding and straightening by mere compression of the surface, I attain the same result chiefly by grinding or cutting away the surface, though to a certain extent some compressing action may be incidentally involved; and in carrying out my improvement in practice I make use of rolls, composed each of a series of steel disks arranged on a shaft at short intervals, and give I to such rolls a much higher speed of rotation than has in such machines been heretofore employed, so that while the rod, tube, or shaft is free to rotate while being acted on by the rolls it will, as a matter of fact, rotate at a speed much slower than the rolls, and thereby be subjected to a grinding or cutting action.

The housings of this machine are of any suitable construction, and are fitted up with the usual or other known appliances necessary to the mounting and operating of metal rolls, such as the adjusting pressure and the plummer-blocks P P, and set-screws S. In these housings are mounted side by side the rolls A A, one of which, A, is arranged horizontally, or nearly so, and the other, A, adjusted or set at such distance therefrom as the diameter of the rod, bar, shaft, or tube to be operated on may require. This latter roll is arranged with one end a little above, or the other below, or one above and the other below, the corresponding end or ends of the other roll A, the amount of variation of the axes of the two rolls being such as is adopted in cylindrical rolls for the purpose of securing a forward or feed motion in the bar, rod, shaft, or tube which is being operated on. These rolls are composed of a series of disks, b b, preferably of steel, the faces of which constitute the cutting or grind ing surfaces. As shown at Fig. 4, said disks are separated from each other upon a shaft, (3, by smaller intermediate collars d, and are locked thereon by means-of a key, 6, nut g, and abutment 0. Any lateral displacement of this series of projecting and intermediate collars upon shaft 0 is prevented by the nut, which tends to compress and hold the same together, and against the stop or abutment C, and any rotation thereof, except as all rotate together, is prevented by the key e,which fits into a groove running along said shaft 0, and also into, nicks or grooves formed in said collars. The collared rolls thus constructed, and mounted side by side in the housings, as aforesaid, are arranged with the cutting or grindin g faces of the projecting collars opposite, or nearly so, to each other. These faces, preferably, alternate with similarly-constructed proj ectin g collars f upon the rest-roll, so that when in use they shall play between the latter, or opposite the grooves formed therein. G G H H represent a series of drive-wheels, operated by an endless belt or band, I, the two former Wheels, G G, being mounted upon the shafts G O of the collared rolls.

The number, arrangement, and size of these wheels may be greatly varied; or a suitable system of gear-wheels might be employed instead, the main object being to attain great speed in the operation of the collared rolls.

If, now, a bar, rod, shaft, or tube, to be rounded and straightened, or either, be entered between the collared rolls, and said rolls driven at a high rate of speed, considerably in excess of that heretofore employed, said rod or bar will be fed along and rotated, and, at the same time, rounded and straightened, or either, by the frictional, or cutting, or grinding action of the surfaces of the steel disks, which result is secured by reason of the excess of speed given to the rolls, which is so great as to exceed that of the rod, bar, shaft, or tube.

But, if it is so preferred, the rolls described may be arranged with their axes parallel, and other known suitable means be employed for effecting the forward feed.

The thickness-of these steel disks, or the width of the operative faces, should, by preference, be comparatively small, say, from oneeighth of an inch to an inch, more or less, and the distance from one to the next on the same shaft about the same; but though I consider these dimensions the best, I do not limit myself in this regard.

The operation described, however, in addition to rounding and straightening, also gives to the rod, tube, bar, or shaft a high polish or finish, and, in so far as such effect, by the method and means described, is novel and useful, I include it herein.

I am aware that it is not new to round up a rod, bar, or shaftby mounting it in a lathe and grinding off a portion or all of the surface, by the use of a disk-wheel rotated at a high velocity; but I am not aware that this has been done previous to my invention by causing two or more such disks, or two or more series of such disks, to operate by a grinding or cutting action on two or more opposite, or nearly opposite, sides of a rod, bar, or shaft, while the latter was free to rotate, as and only as such rolls might cause it to rotate while the work' of rounding and straightening is being done.

While, as already stated, I prefer to make the grinding-disks referred to of steel, they may be made with useful result of other known material suitable for such grinding purposes, the construction, however, as well as the method of operation, remaining substantially the same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The method of rounding, or straightening, or polishing rods, bars, shafts, or tubes by subjecting them to the cutting or grinding action of two or more disks, or series of disks, operative thereon at high speeds on opposite, or nearly opposite, sides, while such rods, bars, or shafts are free to rotate as, and only as, they may be caused to rotate by such disks.

2. The rolls A A, constructed substantially as described, in combination with each other and with a suitable rest-roll, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH S. SEAMAN.

Witnesses:

JAMES M. OI-IRIsTY, GHAs. G. PAGE. 

